Captain Jack: Babysitter
by Stitch54
Summary: What happened to baby Sarah Jane after her parents drove off? She didn't go straight to Lavinia Smith, that's for sure. All the important moments with Jack Harkness throughout Sarah's life.
1. 18th August 1951

**Story:** Captain Jack: Babysitter

**Author:** Stitch54

**Timeline:** Follows the events in SJA 'Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith', and precedes Torchwood series when Jack is living on Earth since 1869 waiting for the Doctor.

**Summary: **What happened to baby Sarah after her parents drove off? She didn't go straight to Lavinia Smith, that's for sure.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own SJA or Torchwood, or even Doctor Who. Sadly, but I am working on it.

**AN: **I have jiggled about with the original and am making the story much longer and multi chaptered. Some will be longer, and some will be shorter. I'm still working on some of the new chapters that I am putting in, so they will be added once complete.

* * *

18th August 1951

Captain Jack Harkness watched from a distance as the three figures walked away from the pram. The older woman in pink stopped as the two teenagers continued to walk out of the village. She turned to have one last look at the baby they left behind. If it was anyone else other than Jack watching this scene unfold, they would have been very concerned by the behaviour of these three strangers.

Jack had watched the events of the afternoon unfold before his very eyes, and he couldn't do a thing to stop it. It was all up to these strangers that, unbeknownst to them, he had a lot in common with. Before he managed to send himself back to 1869, Jack had done so much research upon the Doctor, it didn't seem mentally possible. And what he found out from the hacked into UNIT records, was that he travelled a lot more than before Rose; a hell of a lot more.

And today, he decided to investigate one of his former, or yet to be companions; Sarah Jane Smith. The UNIT records detailed everything about this woman, and were probably some of the most complete records in the UNIT achieves because this woman will save the Earth almost or maybe even more times than the Doctor himself.

And he had just watched the future saviour of the Earth say her goodbyes to her parents, who in turn said goodbye to their child from the future and in the present. Jack had seen some strange things in his immortal life, and this was added straight to that list.

He thought for a moment about going after the future Sarah Jane Smith, and hitch a ride to the future. But then, he could come out at a time where he will have missed the Doctor completely. Plus, he was sort of employed by Torchwood, even if at the moment it was classed as a secret society by all accounts. UNIT will be the big boy on the block till at least the mid eighties, and then the serious action will begin. How could he miss that?

According to the biography by UNIT, she was raised by her aunt, a pioneering virologist in the fifties and sixties. But, how was that baby to get to her aunt, with nobody around to notice that she was left in the middle of the square?

Jack then found himself running at full pelt across the stone square once the time travellers had left, towards the child. As he reached the pram, he saw that the sleeping babe was oblivious to what had just happened. Jack smiled to himself as the small face twitched in the peaceful sleep. How was it that small babies could be so cute? "So, we finally meet Miss Smith", Jack smiled as he shifted the weight of his bag on his back, "And you are asleep".

He clutched his hands around the handle bar of the pram, and began to push her back to the village hall. He had been staying in the pub for the past few days, and only watched the family from a distance or had very slight interaction with them. The parents seemed like nice people; Eddie and Barbara Smith. Mum was a very cheery character and made one of the finest cups of teas around, and dad seemed to be very accepting of who Jack was. Well, what he could see on the surface. And Jack knew this; this kid was going to be one good looker. No wonder the Doctor took her along in the TARDIS. But he wasn't expecting to become her babysitter until she could get to her aunt in one way or another.

As he pushed her into the village hall, he somehow managed to make more noise than he intended to. The head of the community council, Mrs. King Jack thought her name was, gave him a strange look as he crashed through the doors. She was a woman with a big personality, always made sure that her voice was heard, and Jack knew better than to draw her attentions towards him. Well, that plan had gone through the window. "Excuse me", she started in her high pitched voice, "Where do you think you are going with that child sir?"

Everyone in the village hall stopped and looked towards Jack. In normal circumstances, he wouldn't have minded the attention, but his priorities were focused on Sarah at this particular moment. "Oh, uh, I've just found her in the square", Jack started, "She was all on her own".

"Gosh it is all about the Smiths today isn't it", Mrs. King complained as she walked over to Jack, "First that strange woman and her son, and then that girl. You'd think this is a circus rather than a village fate".

"A very well organised circus", Jack muttered under his breath.

"I guess I'll have to look after her until they come back from wherever they have gotten to", Mrs. King sighed as she looked in at the sleeping baby.

"Oh, I'll look after her", Jack suggested, "You can trust me. I was in the RAF in the war".

"Really? You don't look old enough, if you don't mind me saying so sir", Mrs. King told him.

"Not at all", Jack smiled at her, "I can find you my credentials if you need proof".

"Oh no no", Mrs. King protested, "I can see by your apparel that you are an army man".

Even though Jack was then put in charge of looking after her, he was still kept under continuous watch by the other villagers. Sarah slept for another good few hours, right up until it was starting to get dark. All the time she was asleep, Jack was expecting for someone to come rushing in to announce the passing of her parents. It would have happened by now, so it was only a matter of time until she was officially an orphan.

As the fate started to wrap up, Jack was aware that the presence of people around him was becoming less and less. As Sarah began to stir from her sleep, Jack bent down into the pram and lifted her up onto his shoulder. Rocking her back and forth, he looked out for Mrs. King. He knew that she had left a few minutes ago to say goodbye to some of the participants of the fate, but even he knew that she had been too long.

Suddenly, she came back in. Her face was like death itself, and Jack then felt it in his gut. It was now official. The child over his shoulder was an orphan, and there was no way she could know. Mrs. King shook her head as she strode across the emptying hall. Jack gave Sarah Jane a gentle pat on the back as he shifted her on his shoulder into a more comfortable position. "Is everything alright Mrs. King?" Jack asked the woman as she crossed the room over to him.

"The poor child", she sighed, "Her parents, uh, word has just come in that their car crashed in a lane. The police have found two bodies".

"Oh shit", Jack said, forgetting his formalities which resulted in a very stern look from Mrs. King, "Are they sure it's them?"

"It is sadly true", Mrs. King sighed, before looking at the sleeping child over Jack's shoulder, "The poor thing doesn't even know".

"Does she have any family she can go to?" Jack asked, knowing the answer already.

"Hmm, I think Edward mentioned that he had a sister", Mrs. King pondered over the thought, "A scientist I think he said, Lavinia I believe was her name".

"If you could direct me to a phone, I may be able to get through to her", Jack told Mrs. King as he set Sarah Jane down into the pram.

"Down there", Mrs. King pointed to a door off to the left of the stage, "Why are you doing this may I ask sir? What does this girl mean to you?"

"Oh Mrs. King, if only you knew", Jack smiled.


	2. Men

**Men**

Jack cradled Sarah in his arms. His 'friends' at Torchwood had gotten in touch with Dr Lavinia Smith, and she was en route as he was sitting there from a meeting in Cardiff. She wouldn't be here until at least this time tomorrow. She had given permission to Jack to take care of the child, seeing as he was in the RAF, like her brother apparently, and that seemed to make her trust him.

He strode across the dark square of Foxgrove over to the pub. Mrs. King had taken liberty to get Sarah's pram over to the pub for him as Sarah Jane would be in his care for the whole evening. The landlady Beatrice had made up a bottle for Sarah and when Jack entered his room, he discovered that there was now a rocking chair sitting in the corner.

Sarah burbled as he sat down and reached over for the bottle. She had been making baby noises all the way to the pub, and was very taken with the buttons on Jack's coat. He pried her fingers off of them and shifted her into a more comfortable position to feed her the bottle. "Right then missus", Jack laughed as she managed to pull of the best baby pout for 'you spoiled my fun' as he sat her up, "Food".

She went straight for the bottle, and she hadn't even finished before she fell asleep. Jack laughed to himself as he took her back over to the pram. He laid her down, tucked her in, and began to push the pram back and forth, humming initially, but then resorting to just talking in a low voice instead. "Listen here Sarah Jane; I may call you Sarah Jane?" Jack smiled down at the baby and continued when he had no response, "Right, well in about oh, twenty years or so, you are going to meet a man, a very special man, and like me, fall eventually in love with him. Once you meet him, nobody else will ever compare properly. So my advice to you is, no matter how useless and stupid men may seem between now and then, they do have their 'uses', so take advantage of that before you meet him. As after you do, their 'uses' won't seem much".


	3. Lavinia

**Lavinia**

Lavinia Smith turned up earlier than expected. She had spent the whole night on the train to get to London, all for her niece. When she had walked into the pub, or rather flew into the pub at lunch, Jack instantly knew who she was, and she instantly knew who he was. She was a short woman, but tall with her heels on. She was in a skirt suit or the equivalent for the time period, and her hair of dirty blonde locks was dishevelled, most likely from travelling for nearly twelve hours.

They met in the middle and Jack quickly passed the sleeping Sarah over. Lavinia looked as though she had been crying, and tears escaped her eyes as she took Sarah Jane. Jack placed a hand on her shoulder. "Dr Smith, if there is anything I can do, don't hesitate to ask", Jack told her.

"Thank you Mr..." she looked to Jack to elaborate.

"Captain, Dr Smith, Captain Jack Harkness", Jack smiled.

"Yes, thank you Captain Harkness", she nodded, and turned to head out of the pub, but then stopped and turned to face him, "Actually, there is something you can help me with".


	4. Spring 1956

**Spring 1956**

"Uncle Jack", the five year old screamed as she launched herself at Jack Harkness.

Jack laughed as he twirled the little girl around in his arms. Her long brown locks span out in the air as she giggled to her heart's content. Jack stopped and held her out at arm's length to have a good look at his 'niece' as he liked to think of her as these days.

She had changed so much since the day he found her, and in the six months that he had been away. She now had her distinctive fringe and her hair was long and wavy. Her green eyes sparkled as she laughed at him, and wriggled in his grip. Lavinia had dressed her in a pink dress that was already mud covered and torn at the rim of the skirt. It was shame really as the flowers on the neckline seemed so delicate for a five year olds dress and the pink looked really good on her. But then this was the child who found bugs and taking apart toys interesting. Well, that was Sarah Jane Smith for you. "Who are you?" Jack mocked frowned at her, "I don't know any five year olds who like to wear pink things, let alone pink dresses".

"Oh, Uncle Jack", she laughed at him; "It's me, Sarah Jane. Auntie just dressed me in this because we are going out to dinner".

"Are we now?" Jack raised an eyebrow at her, "I'm not that special Lavinia".

That last part was addressed at the virologist who had just stepped out from the Croydon family home. Lavinia was dressed in some trousers and a nice top, tucking her keys into her bag as she looked at Jack. She smiled as she walked up the path to him.

A was a nice house, in a pleasant neighbourhood. A two bedroom detached house with gardens surrounding it. Lavinia had complained about it to Jack when they first moved there because there wasn't enough space, but then the only reason they were there was because of the proximity to her lab which was a two minute walk away. Sarah Jane loved it, she spent all her time out of school in the garden exploring, asking never ending questions about this and that. She had already declared to them last time Jack was there that she wanted to be a journalist.

"Captain", Lavinia smiled as she hugged him, "You are very special to us".

"Thank you", Jack replied, "Are you going to let her go out looking like that?"

They both looked down to Sarah Jane who was sniffing the roses. Her hair was slightly dishevelled from being spun around by Jack, and she had managed to wipe mud all over her face in the time he had put her down and them looking at her. "Oh, Sarah Jane Smith", Lavinia started, and the young girl turned to face them foolishly, "What did I tell you?"

"To keep the dress clean", she replied quietly as she looked at her feet, but then snapped up her head with the best pout on her face, "But you know I don't like dresses".

Lavinia let out an exasperated sigh rolling her eyes and looked to Jack who was smiling. He then pulled a bag out from inside his coat and waggled it in front of Lavinia. She smiled and snatched it from him, the paper rustling as she took Sarah's hand. "C'mon you", she told her niece; "Uncle Jack has bought you some new clothes".

Ten minutes later, Sarah Jane came running out of the house yet again, this time in pink stripped overalls and a red shirt underneath with a red bow in her hair. She ran to Jack, who picked her up again and held her on his hip as Lavinia locked the house up yet again. "You spoil her you know", Lavinia told him as she walked up the path.

"I just know what she likes", Jack laughed as he produced a toy owl from behind his back which Sarah instantly took and hugged to death.

"Here I am", Lavinia started as Jack put Sarah down and took one of her hands, "Trying to make her look like a presentable five year old **girl**, and then you come along and encourage her to be..."

Lavinia gestured with her hands, unable to finish her description of her niece as she skipped ahead of them along the street. "...to be Sarah Jane", Jack finished for her with a smile, "Lavinia, you have to let her find herself. If you control everything she does, she'll never be the independent woman I know you dream her to be".

"It worries me what kind of world she is going to grow up in", Lavinia sighed, "Is there going to be another world war, but this time between the Yanks and the Russians? Will television melt her brain? There are so many things that worry me, especially so seeing as I'm going to be away a lot it seems in two years time".

"What?" Jack turned to face her.

"I've been asked to help out on a new project", Lavinia told him as she looked at her feet, "I asked for the most time possible before starting, and two years is the most they can give me. At least Sarah has that much time with me".

"Where is she going to go?" Jack wondered as he looked at the five year old skipping ahead of them.

"I've enrolled her into a boarding school to start when I go away", Lavinia explained to him, "I have no idea how long I'm going to be away for, or where I will end up. It's bad enough I'm going to be taking her out of school in two weeks to take her to New York with me. I can't keep her from her education".

"That's fair enough", Jack nodded as they watched Sarah stop to check they were still behind her, "If I can help in any way..."

"History", Lavinia cut in as she continued to watch her niece continue with her small adventure, "She wants to learn about history. I can only provide so much, but it is very limited. And languages; I speak French, German and Spanish, but my vocabulary consist mostly of scientific terms. Anything you can add to will be very much appreciated".

"I'll see what I can do", Jack laughed, adding as Sarah skipped back to them and took one each of their hands, "I'm going to be around for the next six months hopefully".

"You can sleep on my bottom bunk if you want", Sarah smiled at him as he and Lavinia swung her.

"Thank you very much", Jack replied, "But I've got somewhere to stay this time".

"Are Torchwood finally realising your potential?" Lavinia laughed as they crossed the road.

"Sort of", Jack rolled his eyes, "They've got me a place in Bromley for now".

"That's nice", Lavinia nodded.

"Can we go and visit Uncle Jack soon Auntie?" Sarah asked, "I bet his house is great".

Over the next six months, Jack taught Sarah everything he could remember in his almost one hundred years stuck on Earth. One thing he had to be wary of though was how much she knew about war as he had been in both world wars. Even though she knew less than your average adult, she knew way more than a five year old should. And one interest that had come out of these stories was guns. She started to play Cowboys and Indians with the boy across the street from her, she always being the cowboy with the gun. Lavinia had screamed when she came home one day with Jack's gun. Little minx had managed to sneak it out from his holster. Lucky for her it wasn't loaded.


	5. Autumn 1963

**Autumn 1963**

Sarah was now twelve and hating boarding school. No, hate is too kind a word. She loathed it with every breath she took. Her class mates were not the brightest, and her teachers were incompetent. She used every opportunity she got to say rude things about them in whatever language she decided to speak for the day. It was Welsh normally as none of the teachers were able to speak it, and the only person besides Sarah who had any knowledge of the language was the girl Sarah shared her room with, and she shared the exact same feelings.

Andrea Yates was a fast learner, and it didn't take Sarah long to teach her the basics. She thanked Uncle Jack for being such a good teacher when it came to languages. She could speak Welsh, French, German, Spanish and Russian, yet with an English accent which made them all sound more foreign than they already were.

Andrea was the best thing about the Oxford boarding school. They were such good friends, they were inseparable. Andrea loved to talk; she would talk and talk and talk. She had taught Sarah the art of talking her way out of sticky situations, which then combined with her developing journalistic skills meant Sarah Jane Smith was already as force to be reckoned with.

Okay, so boarding school wasn't that bad, but when Andrea was not around, Sarah felt that being put through a blender would be less painful than listening to some old fart talk about maths or something. She had already surpassed the content for this year's syllabus last year in most subjects and was told by the French teacher that she could probably pass the A Level now. Aunt Lavinia loved coming to parents evening, when she could; as long as they were talking about Sarah's academics and not extracurricular activities.

Sarah was in the library with Andrea, who was passing her silly pictures of the librarian who every time she walked by would tell them to be quiet. She was reading up about the dinosaurs when the librarian approached them again. She carried her usual expression of annoyance mixed with despair as she glared at the girls through her thick rimmed glasses. But this time she walked right up to Sarah Jane. "Miss Smith", she started, "The headmaster wants to see you; now".

Sarah looked to Andrea who shrugged. They hadn't done anything recently that would have gotten them into so much trouble that one of them needed to be spoken to by the head. The last thing they had done was make a hole in the roof in chemistry, but that was last summer; this was a whole new year with pranks waiting to be performed. Most of them were still in the development stage in Andrea's diary. These were the extracurricular activities Lavinia did not encourage one bit.

Although she was impressed with Sarah's initiative and understanding of chemicals, she blamed Jack for Sarah's rebellion to authority. He had nurtured it ever since she was a child. At the age of six, Sarah had led a mutiny against the class teacher and all the parents turned up to find Mrs Lloyd strapped to the chair with duck tape and gagged with one of the boys' socks. Lavinia was not impressed when Jack got Sarah to give him a second by second account of the whole operation and turned red when she saw him taking notes.

Sarah gathered her things and followed the librarian. She was shown to the door of the library, and knew the rest of the way to her final destination. She walked the corridors quickly, her shoes smacking the floor and making an echo as she went. Aunt Lavinia would tell her to pick up her feet and tie her laces. _Well, Aunt Lavinia_, Sarah began to think, _what you don't know can't hurt you_.

"The headmaster asked to see me", Sarah Jane said to the receptionist.

"In there", she replied, not looking up from her typewriter.

Sarah looked to the formidable door. What had she gotten herself into this time? It was probably one of the snooty girls across the corridor from her and Andrea. They had once signed a hate letter with her and Andrea's signatures. They weren't very good forgeries, so Sarah and Andrea had gotten let off that time. But those girls had had a whole summer to practice. God knows how good they might have gotten?

She knocked on the door and waited for an answer. "Come in", the deep voice of Mr Rosser called.

Sarah pushed the wooden door open slowly, and was immediately picked up into a hug and swung around in the air. When she was put down again, she looked up to be brought face to face with the biggest smile on Earth. "Uncle Jack", she smiled as she hugged him, "What are you doing here?"

"Captain Harkness requested to see you Miss Smith", Mr Rosser said before Jack even opened his mouth, "You've been signed out for the weekend. I hope you come back refreshed and ready to work again".

"C'mon", Jack took her hand and literally dragged her out of the headmaster's office.

"Uncle Jack", Sarah Jane laughed, "Where are we going?"

"Surprise", he told her, "Don't tell your Auntie, she'll kill me".

"Because you've taken me out of school or because the surprise is something she wouldn't approve of?" Sarah asked as they began to run through the corridors to the exit at the end of the hallway.

"Both", Jack replied honestly with a laugh.

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**AN: **I wanted to post this tomorrow, but I'm going to Cardiff for the day and my laptop is also acting up and having to do this thing where it takes four or so hours to start up. So, seeing as I'm on here tonight, I thought I'd post. Hope you are all enjoying.


	6. Pacifism

**Pacifism**

Sarah Jane sighed as she lied back onto Jack's coat that they were using as a blanket. The stars were out above in all their glory and Sarah Jane felt at peace. She'd spent most of her summer evenings doing this, well into the early hours of the morning. And now she was doing it with Jack in a field on the cool winter's night.

He had taken her to buy ice creams earlier in the afternoon and had spoilt her to a film in the cinema. They then went to a 'posh' restaurant for dinner before finally coming out here via several bus journeys and a local spar for some marshmallows and squash that Jack added hot water to from a flask. This was the life. Sitting in the middle of an obscure field in the Oxfordshire countryside.

"So", Jack laughed as he rolled onto his back next to Sarah Jane, "What can you see up there?"

"Orion at the moment", Sarah replied, "I love how the three stars all line up to make his belt".

"It's amazing what beauty our eyes can make out of chaos", Jack sighed with a smile.

"I'd love to go there one day", Sarah admitted.

"What, Orion's belt?" Jack laughed, "Because I promise you, the Eye of Orion is ten times better".

"No silly", Sarah Jane laughed as she lightly elbowed him, "I mean the stars. I'd like to go out to the stars one day".

"You may do", Jack smiled.

"Andrea always teases me about it", Sarah told him; "She jokes about Triffids all the time".

"They are rather scary", Jack said with a gulp, turning away and hoping that she didn't want to talk about them too much. It wasn't one of his more pleasant deaths for sure.

There was a beautiful silence between the two then as they looked up at the night's sky and imagined its infinite beauty and wonder. The Jack heard Sarah sit straight up. "Hang on", she frowned at him, "How do you know the Eye of Orion is ten times better than the belt?"

"Well..." Jack started, but then stopped as he heard a twig snap somewhere close by.

He sat up straight as he heard movement. Sarah Jane frowned at Jack. It was probably just a fox or rabbit or something like that. But Jack seemed very tense as he focused on the spot from where the sound originated. There was some rustling which then caused Jack to stand straight up. He moved his hand toward his gun, and then remembered whose company he was in.

Ever since she'd stolen his gun from him, Lavinia made sure Jack taught Sarah Jane the art of pacifism. Not only was that an impossible quality that he himself had never really managed, but Sarah's childhood fascination with them was something hard to break. He had taken her shooting once to improve her aim and hand to eye coordination. It was actually a Torchwood training exercise and he was allowed to bring her along as an aspiring future operative.

She'd done so brilliantly, Torchwood paid for her to have lessons. She had a few, which lasted until Lavinia found out where Jack was taking her on the weekends. That was when Lavinia called up the pacifism thing again, and ever since Jack was sworn to not let her see the gun, nor let her see him use it. So that was why, after going off to investigate and he was out of Sarah's sight, only then did he take out his gun and hold it out in front of him. The noises sounded too suspicious for his liking. He signalled to Sarah to stay before sneaking around the bushes.

There was nobody there, not even his vortex manipulator come watch come scanner detected anything. But what he did see were footprints. Someone had been here, very recently. Jack wouldn't have been surprised if this was the source of the noises. He followed them in his sight; they seemed to be heading off through the hedges; back round to where Jack had left Sarah sitting by herself. "Shit", Jack swore under his breath.

Then he heard Sarah scream. And boy could she scream. She'd fallen over once as a child, and you could have sworn she was being murdered. She may have well been this time though. "Double shit", Jack swore as he ran back to where he'd left Sarah Jane.

There, standing in the light of Jack's torch, a man held Sarah to his chest, with a knife at her neck. She was doing her best to free herself, but the gentleman was much larger than her, bigger than Jack too. He was managing to hold Sarah with just the one arm, and the other had the knife in it. "Drop the knife", Jack shouted at him as he raised his gun, "Now!"

"Look mate", the man started, "All I want to do is take her with me. You turn your back and we will be gone and your daughter won't be harmed".

"Drop the knife now sir", Jack repeated, "Or I will shoot".

"You shoot, and she'll get it", the guy then forcefully positioned Sarah so she was in front of most of the man's body, "I promise you now".

"Last time", Jack hissed, "Drop the knife!"

Jack saw the man smile. And it sent shivers down his spine. Not only was it a very menacing smile of a man willing to murder, but his mouth was full of sharp canine like teeth. With his knife hand, he pushed the hair away from Sarah's neck tenderly, and then looked back at Jack to see his reaction. His dark red tongue ran over his bright white teeth before he moved his knife and readied himself to plunge them like vampire into Sarah's neck.

It was always going to be aliens wasn't it? It was like after he'd been with the Doctor, trouble was attracted to him; it was part of his life. And it would be part of Sarah's if it hadn't been already. First there was the whole thing with the Trickster and her parents, and then there was him. According to the UNIT records, the Trickster was supposed to attack Sarah's past yet again next year and he'd be able to do nothing about it this time. And now there was this.

Jack pulled the trigger, and the bullet went straight into the vampire man's mouth and out the back of his head. Sarah screamed and pulled herself from his grip as the man fell backward. Her white school shirt was covered in blood splatters, and she was crying as she hid behind Jack. Jack re-holstered his gun and turned to face Sarah. He bent down onto one knee so he was closer to her eye level. "Sarah, look at me Sarah", Jack told her before she flung herself into his arms and broke down.

Torchwood turned up not long after that to clean up, bringing an ambulance with them. Thank god they disguised themselves as police this time. He and Sarah went off in the ambulance whilst the Torchwood boys cleaned up the vampire man. It would turn out later when Jack got back to the London office that the vampire man was actually an old foe of the Doctor and Sarah's, and had travelled in time to find Sarah and get a bit of her before she and the Doctor had met. One thing he wasn't counting on was Jack Harkness.

After that day, Sarah Jane was a pacifist, promising to only ever use a gun if one was used on her first or if she needed to shoot something, not someone.


	7. Tea with Lavinia 1971

**Tea with Lavinia 1971**

"Sarah!" Lavinia Smith called up the stairs of her Croydon home, "Sarah Jane Smith, you get down here right now".

Twenty years old, and this girl still couldn't keep track of time. If she ever wanted to make it big in the world of journalism, she would have to learn how to keep track of time. They had a house guest due any minute now; an old family friend. Well, son of an old family friend. But it was funny how they looked so much alike.

As Lavinia sat down onto her front living room sofa, she heard the thundering feet of her niece coming down the stairs. Twenty years old and still didn't know how to pick up her feet. How many times had she had to replace those infernal school shoes that never seemed to last more than a week at a time. The girl could be impossible at times. "Sorry Aunt Lavinia", Sarah puffed as she stuck her head into, "That call... I have to go to a story".

"Dear, you're never in one place long enough to lick a stamp", Lavinia sighed at her niece, "Since you started working for that infernal magazine of yours, I hardly see you anymore".

"I know", the child puffed as she tried to catch her breath as she gathered her bag from the opposite sofa, "But I should get this weekend off".

"Should?" Lavinia questioned with a raised eyebrow. Sarah busied herself around the front room, stuffing the various papers strewn around the room into her leather satchel, before dashing out into the hall, completely ignoring her Aunt's comment.

"Send my apologies to the Harkness'", Sarah called as she put one foot through the front door, "See you later".

Lavinia sighed as she let out one long breath. She had thought in the past few years that she would be glad once her niece finally got a proper job. She would just sit around the house, looking lost and her head in the clouds. Whatever was going through the child's head must have been productive as she now had a good solid job, that even Lavinia was slightly jealous by. Work was slow at the moment. It was that time of year when noting really happened.

Suddenly, there was a ring at the doorbell. Lavinia jumped up from her seat as fast as she could, and headed for the front door. A dark tall figure stood on the other side patiently, his shadow giving off a very impressive vibe. As Lavinia turned the knob on the door and opened it up, she felt a wave of relief to find the gentleman standing on the other side to be her guest. "Jack, so good to see you again", she smiled at him.

"It's lovely to see you too Lavinia", the American smiled back at her as he stepped through the door, "Am I mistaken, or was that Sarah Jane that I saw running down the road in the opposite direction?"

"You aren't mistaken", Lavinia replied as she gestured for him to take a seat in the lounge, "Apparently, she has a 'story' to cover".

"Oh, so she is formally employed now?" Jack wondered as the two sat down on opposite sofas simultaneously.

"Yes, she has been there a good two months now", Lavinia told the boy, "Keeps her very occupied".

"That's good", Jack smiled, "Keeps her out of trouble".

"Or gets her into more", Lavinia laughed, but Jack couldn't help but think how right she was.

The year was 1971, and the Doctor was on the scene in UNIT. Jack had kept a close eye on this one, seeing now that the myths about Time Lord being able to regenerate was true as one day he was a short clown like fellow, and the next he was a tall grey haired dandy. He knew it wasn't long now until Sarah Jane met him; two maybe three years tops.

He hadn't really seen Sarah since the weekend he took her out of boarding school. After saving her life, Torchwood got him on to a very big project in Cardiff, monitoring the rift, and he only ever saw Lavinia for a cup of tea every now and again. At some point between distancing himself from the Smith's and now, Jack had changed into the Jack Lavinia had known in the 50's son. Lavinia was such a scatter brain that she didn't really notice. And Sarah Jane, who he had just seen fleeting past, didn't even know who he was.

This was good in one way as Jack had ten years ago felt he needed to distance himself from Sarah, just in case they happened to meet in the future and she recognised him. Around that age seemed to be the age that you can forget faces from your childhood quite easily, and forget things quite easily too. Thankfully, from the evidence of today, this seemed to be true, as he was due to soon become a Torchwood representative within UNIT, much to Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart's annoyance, so he didn't need Sarah Jane pointing him out to a premature Doctor in the future. That would have really nasty results.

And what a beautiful young woman she had become in those few years. In the coffee mornings he had had with Lavinia, she would show him recent pictures of Sarah Jane, but it was nothing like seeing her in person. She wasn't much taller, her hair was shorter than Jack remembered and she was very fashionable following the trends. Jack had liked being in her life, and making sure that one of the Doctor's future companions grew up alright. Maybe he should do it for Rose when he got round to that decade?

"So, how is your father?" Lavinia asked him.

Thank god Lavinia was as scattered brained as ever as it helped him to keep up the story that the Jack she met when he dropped Sarah off was the present day Jack's dad. With her believing, it gave Jack the confidence to use it again if he bumped to someone from his past. It was a brilliant cover up. But with one flaw, one big flaw; you couldn't have both Jacks present at the same time. "Um, well, he isn't in the best of health at the moment", Jack lied.

"Oh dear", Lavinia gasped, "You send him mine and Sarah's best wishes okay?"

"Sure will", Jack smiled.

"So, how about some tea?" Lavinia asked as she stood.

"That would be wonderful", Jack smiled, but quickly wiped it from his face once Lavinia was no longer looking his way; he had had enough of British tea now.


End file.
